Vatican Representative: Just to Be Clear, Atheists Are Still Going to Hell

[Ian David]

...

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

Many atheists thought it was pretty damn nice of the Pope to say that… even if the idea of being “saved” or “redeemed” thanks to Christ’s death is all made up.

We all knew that sense of one-ness and actions-speak-louder-than-prayers wasn’t going to last very long. As the Pope’s words made their way around the world, a Vatican spokesman had to do some damage control and remind everybody that atheists, in fact, are going to hell unless they accept Jesus:

...

On Thursday, the Vatican issued an “explanatory note on the meaning to ‘salvation.’”

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said that people who know about the Catholic church “cannot be saved” if they “refuse to enter her or remain in her.”

More:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/24/vatican-representative-just-to-be-clear-atheists-are-still-going-to-hell/

[trotsky]

2. LOL

Phew, that's a relief!

Not shocking to see the institution's deep-seated religious bigotry reassert itself though.

[rug]

13. You sound reassured.

[DetlefK]

3. Protestants, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Greek-Orthodox, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses...

You are all going to hell!

[Zoeisright]

4. Up yours, Rosica.

Dollars to donuts you're a pedophile. And you're going to "heaven"??

BTW, it's blasphemy to state you know the mind of god. But you'd know that, of course, if you actually read your Bible.

[rug]

14. Here's a donut.

Prove it.

[deucemagnet]

5. I thought the headline was from The Onion!

Am I the only one getting mixed messages here?

It's like the Kevin Nealon subliminal advertising executive bits from SNL. "The Lord has redeemed all of us! [font size = "1"](not all of us)[/font] Everyone! [font size = "1"](not everyone) [/font] And the Blood makes us children of God of the first class! [font size = "1"] (except the atheists)" [/font]

[rrneck]

6. Dear Rev. Thomas Rosica,

you first. Fuck you.

[hrmjustin]

7. Can't have people not showing up to put money in the plate now can we.

[cleanhippie]

9. If an entire organization of child-rapers and their protectors didn't keep people from putting

Money in the plate, do you really think saying non-believers are going to be redeemed will?

[hrmjustin]

10. It was a joke.

[cleanhippie]

11. I know. The entire thing is a joke.

Sadly, many WILL use this in the way you describe, will seemingly ignoring the child raping.

[rug]

15. "An entire organization". Well now, tell me more.

While you're at it, how do you get from the OP to this without invoking an internal monologue?

[cleanhippie]

16. You need it explained to you yet again?

On this, we are as far apart as we can be, so repeating it again is likely to be fruitless.

[rug]

17. Are you saying the Catholic Church is "an entire organization of child-rapers and their protectors"?

No explanation needed. A simple yes or no wil do.

[cleanhippie]

18. I'm saying that we have been through this countless times already.

An I've grown bored discussing it with you.

I'm not tryin to be snippy, I just really have no desire to do this with you. Again.

[rug]

19. So is the answer yes or is it no?

That is a rather breathtaking statement you made.

[cleanhippie]

20. Are you having a reading comprehension problem?

[rug]

21. Yes. I don't see an answer to read.

Look, if you post ridiculous broad brush nonsense, expect to be questioned on it. If you don't want to be questioned on it, don't post that crap in the first place.

Simple.

[cleanhippie]

22. I'll post what I want and engage with who I want.

I see that your incessant need to have the last word is in full effect.

[rug]

23. And I will continue to call bullshit.

[cleanhippie]

24. And your incessant need for the last word in full effect.

[rug]

25. "

[cleanhippie]

34. QED

[rug]

35. ditto. Look below.

[cleanhippie]

36. Your incessant need to have the last word on display.

[Arugula Latte]

8. You heard the man! Enter her! No pulling out at the last minute, either!

[skepticscott]

12. Well, duh

Not sure why any atheists, or anyone else thought otherwise. It's black letter Catholic doctrine that She is the One True Church and the only way to salvation. Everyone CAN partake of that salvation, according to the RCC, but only if you suck up at the trough. Sleeping in on Sunday won't get you there...

[Warpy]

26. That's a relief.

I would hate having to spend eternity with the likes of Rosica.

"Heaven for the climate, Hell for the conversation."--Mark Twain

[trotsky]

30. Eternity with that crew WOULD be hell. n/t

[darkangel218]

27. Thank Satan. nt

[Dawson Leery]

28. Just to be clear: the Pope is still the Great Whore(protectors of child molesters)

a false concoction of Emperor Constantine.

The Orthodox and Protestant Churches base their bible upon scholarly Greek texts.

[bowens43]

29. blah balh balh...men in funny hats , who cares?

[Smarmie Doofus]

31. Just to be clear, THEISTS are already in it. n/t

[BlueStreak]

32. Just to be clear, the Pope and friends will all rot in the ground just like me, unless ...

they choose cremation. And that is my choice. When you think about it, it is really ghoulish to dress up corpses and carefully plant them in a tomb, as if ..., well as if what? That they will one day get up and walk out of the grave?

But I think this Pope gets that. He seems to be a bit more grounded in reality than the others.

Do Catholics consider cremation a sin?

[BlueStreak]

33. And this "clarification" seems to say

that anybody who leaves the Catholic Church can't get into heaven. So if a person decides to leave the Catholic Church to become a Methodist or a Baptist, they are screwed. But presumably a person who was always a Presbyterian and never a Catholic is OK because he didn't leave the Catholic Church (other than the entire protestant army walking out on the Catholics, of course.)

And if I was born into a Pastafarian family, I guess I could end up in Heaven.



The rules are ever so confusing.

[LiberalAndProud]

37. Maybe I am alone in thinking that this is self-preservative.

If one recognizes that one does not need the church to be "saved," one might come to view the church as the profit-taking institution that it is. The threat of not getting to heaven keeps the coffers filled. Some small portion of the take does provide comfort to widows and orphans, but the bulk of it perpetuates the wealth and power of the church. It seems to me that the hierarchy has mistaken the cudgel of eternal damnation for the staff of god.

[dimbear]

38. Setting your heart on this new Pope isn't wise. He'll just break your heart eventually.

Trust your knowledge of history and the demographics of which he is a prisoner.

[Humanist_Activist]

39. I don't understand it, as far as I can tell, this Pope is going to act mostly the same as...

the past 2, at least. Yes, he will pay lip service to economic injustice, just like the past 2 popes, unjust wars, the death penalty, etc. The fact is, though, that he is a conservative, not a reformer, we are not going to see any fundamental shifts in Catholic doctrine or practice. JPII prayed in a synagogue, for crying out loud! Did that mark any fundamental shift? No, of course not.

Any shift we see is demographic only, rather than ideological, the Church will start to focus more on its growth areas, Africa, Southeast Asia, etc. and try to stem the tide of people leaving the church in Europe and the Americas.

[backscatter712]

40. That's what she said!

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said that people who know about the Catholic church “cannot be saved” if they “refuse to enter her or remain in her.”

[ButterflyBlood]

41. So it's not just atheists he's condemning

That statement also includes almost everyone from other religions, almost all other Christians, and all people who have ever left Catholicism even if they remain Christians, like myself.

Fuck that guy.

[Iggo]

42. That's the way it's always been.

Their way or the highway....to hell.

[Dawson Leery]

43. I am not buying the Francis deception!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/how-the-catholic-bishops-_b_3322479.html